Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

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Artemiy
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Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by Artemiy »

Hey all,

I am wondering if anyone here uses either One or Duet interface from Apogee and whether you think it really is the best solution for a Mac. Heard many great things about them.

Thanks!
traviswolfe
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by traviswolfe »

I own a Apogee Duet and it's great. I'm not sure it's the best interface mainly cause it depends on what you want or need. For me though the Duet has been just fine and I use it in garageband.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by Artemiy »

Thanks for your reply!

I heard many great reviews of One and Duet, for their terrific input and output converters. I need an interface mainly for monitoring purposes, so I think One should do well, and being able to use it as a USB condenser microphone is also cool.

BTW, do they work as USB/FireWire class compliant devices, or you need a driver? Asking because Apple's camera connection kit with iPhone OS 4 will allow to use class compliant USB audio interfaces. Imagine using One as a microphone to do filed recording with iPhone or iPod touch.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by dbijoux »

I've read the converters in the Duet are nice too. Although, I just noticed it only has unbalanced outputs and the 48k limit makes me a bit skeptical.

The One only has a single input and only a mini jack out? I guess you could keep using the G as an interface - wonder how nicely they would play together.

Still, those are all deal breakers IMO. Pretty sleek housing, but I'm sure there must be a better field recorder in the same price range or less if that's what you're after.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by Artemiy »

For a field recorder I could use a "strap-on" stereo condenser microphone for my iPod touch, that would be in the $100-150 range.

I am looking at One mostly as a high-quality output interface, as I do most of my stuff in digital domain so I record all my sounds within the gear by resampling. And when I do need to record something it's mostly mono, and I do it in 24 bit 44.1 kHz. So One looks perfect to me.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by dbijoux »

I think I have an idea of how you work over there, mainly between the G and iMac.

The part that surprised me was the mini-jack output, maybe nice for headphones(if the amp has enough juice) but monitors. Equally unnerving was the unbalanced outs on the duet.

What I'm confused about is how either would be better than just keeping the Fantom as your main interface point.

(Whoops. I just noticed I ventured to the white side!)

Since I'm here already, considering monitors as your goal, how far do you plan on going? Would it be worth the investment to take it to the next level? You have enough gear on-hand and coming through your studio to justify something bigger, RME, etc. Of course, that's a lot more budget too.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by Artemiy »

dbijoux, no you can't actually have an idea of how I work since my setup changes very often. For example, my G is at my friend's place right now. And while I have my V-Synth which is mostly used for sampling duties, I have no audio interface for my iMac (and it's internal headphone out is good but not for high-end audio tasks). As I do sound design mostly with monitor headphones, a compact interface like this is what I seek, especially since I plan to get a MB or MBP in future.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by dbijoux »

Touchè. If you can, check the specs on the One's output. In such a small package, it may not be much better than your iMac. There's always the option of a headphone amp too.

Hopefully, you don't take it all the wrong way. I could just see where a larger interface would allow options and give you the quality you seek without compromise. Then, portability is an issue too.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by Artemiy »

According to Apogee, One has the same converters as Duet and I have no doubts it will be at least as good as the Fantom-G. Ultimately I do not need "options" as you say but I need quality and small size.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by dbijoux »

Not the converters, the actual output. I found this:

http://support.apogeedigital.com/assets/documentation/o...

+12dbu is all they say, I was hoping for a mw/voltage comparison.
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Re: Apogee One and Duet - anyone here uses one of these?

Post by Artemiy »

Well, my only judge is my ears ;-) I am not sure when I'll go for it though, but I'll post my review here.
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